Yesika Salgado, also known as Yesika Starr, has the honor of being one of the few poets that can actually fuck me up with words. With the recent release of “Corazón,” her first book, I wanted to look back on other works from Salgado. “Sentimental Boss Bitch,” a chapbook, was self-published this year. It’s eighteen pages long. In those eighteen pages there’s love, joy, longing, pain, heartbreak and of course, learning how to be a sentimental boss bitch.
A bright orange typewriter made out of cardboard sits in the middle of the room. Flowers spring from its keys. On the top of the typewriter, is an offering. Pan dulce and the novel Like Water For Chocolate. Surrounding the typewriter, placed on the stark white walls, are portraits of brown faces and bodies. They seem to stare from every corner, enticing you to read a snippet of their lives.
With all the current events going on, the world feeling like a cesspool a negativity, sometimes the healthy thing to do is to step back. Self-care is making sure that your needs come first in the world. There are many ways to perform self-care and it’s become a topic of many podcast episodes. These are my ones – all from people of color – that discuss self care as a concept and ways that it can be implemented in your life.
“Jiggly bits and pieces. Too many rolls. My legs are thin, but I wish my thighs didn’t touch. Ugh. I need to do something about this weight.” These are the intrusive thoughts constantly surrounding Gabi, the protagonist of Gabi, a Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero.Unable to see herself as worth loving because of the way her body is, Gabi’s story is common for many teenagers and adults.